Cupples took blood samples to analyse the athletes’ lactate levels before and after the test, while Bishop analysed the data provided by the punching pad equipment that has been used previously for assessing martial arts kicking and for golf research.

“The equipment calculated the total force over a minute of the athletes punching a special boxing pad,” Bishop said.

“Going by their results, it was obvious that they worked above their lactate threshold for quite a while.

“Some of them got very tired and even started to miss the bag.”

Cupples said he enjoyed the opportunity to put Australia’s top sportsmen through their paces using scientific knowledge gained from his studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

“It was a good opportunity to apply what we’ve learned here at the university into practice off-campus,” he said.

“The lactate analysis that I did showed how intensely they were working and how well their energy systems are developed to deal with intense activity.”